This is Walker's method of getting good rest on the road.
The third day allowed for a quick visit with Aunt Rene and Jack (and Uncle Bob at lunch). It was nice to see their new house and town briefly...and check out Jack's super sweet ride.
I didn't have time to clean her up, though, because I was meeting some girlfriends (and kids) for lunch. So she got locked in the bathroom...poor, muddy, Muskoka!
There were actually more kids than girlfriends at my birthday lunch. And you know what, it was still fun. These girls, they have good kids. (Mine included - nobody was bit at lunch)
And, I don't think our waitress ever got annoyed with us. And you know how annoying a bunch of girls gabbing can be...then add 6 kids, five and under. Then, the girls sent me to get a massage after lunch! AWESOME! If you ever want to bless someone with a deployed spouse, this is the way to do it! It was so wonderful. So, so wonderful. (and technically, I think one of the best parts was that Brad knew beforehand, so he knew I would be having a good birthday even though he is faraway!)
After my massage, I had to get to work on the dirty girl...she cleans up well. 
Oh, did I mention that she and I spent some time in the storm shelter before her bath/shower/bath/sudsy/rinse session? Yep, the tornado sirens went off. And the boys were at Barbie's house. Thankfully, there was nothing more than a thunderstorm and some hail. And a ton of rain. The day ended with dinner at the Clements house and some very nice presents. And chocolate cake of course.
Gavin got a Coaster Car for his birthday while he and his mom, Nicole, were in Texas. The boys had such fun cruising around the driveway. Gavin's daddy, Aaron, is home from Iraq for R&R. I spoke with Nicole briefly and she said they are having a great time (of course). She did say Gavin won't let her do anything for him--like buckle him into the carseat--he says, "No, momma, Daddy do it!" If you think of it, pray that they have a wonderful visit together. I told Nicole I wouldn't call her for a few days--but I will have to briefly say "bye" before heading north!
Here are a couple shots of Wilson helping make soap for his teachers. Today was his last day (because he will be missing the last two weeks of school.)
Here is the finished product.
And here he is about the fifth time. He really liked doing this, and probably would've just done it over and over and over if I hadn't talked him into trying something else.
Walker trying out a skuut. He seems to have the same intensity in his eyes as when he was on the horse last weekend!
Wilson took a bike-riding test. Here is the serpentine! Wow, he was thrilled to do this section because he loves the word serpentine (from the movie Cars...and Nascar Races, and when Daddy drives like Lightening McQueen).
Here is the short radius turning section. I think there were five sections altogether. At the end they took his picture and they will be mailing him a license! He did pretty well, except on the figure 8 he went WAY off course, because there was a drainage grate. I don't blame him because I hate that part of the Mackinac Bridge to this day...I probably wouldn't intentionally ride my bike on a grate, (if I had a bike and I rode it.)
These pics are specifically for you, Brad. Wilson didn't exactly get it, but he thought it was kind of cool. For those of you back home, the big hole under the sign is a Prairie Dog hole. They are ALL OVER this park.
Ready, Set...
...toss that Huffy!
And well, just to put a smile on your face. And notice he has an ink pen, with the point out - of course! But also notice, he has started wearing his reminderband instead of just playing with it! 
I don't know who gets a bigger kick out of Muskoka getting our weekly paper; her, Wilson, or myself! It almost makes me want to subscribe to the local paper again!
Today was the National Day of Prayer. PWOC organized a prayer walk following our regular meeting, complete with snacks and balloons. There were 7 areas to pray for our country, I talked through each thing with Wilson...government, military, media, business, education, church and family. I thought he was getting it, but when I said, "Who do we know in the military?" He said, "I don't know." I reminded him about Daddy being in the Army and that the Army is part of the military.
We did pray some and then the boys ran ahead of me for a bit...
I thought this was way too cute! (it didn't last too long though!)
Wilson showing his cover on the yearbook for his school. They framed his "original artwork." I'm thinking of putting it on Ebay. Just kidding...
Walker actually wanted to be in on the pictures tonight.
He is REALLY proud of his brother! (and you can barely tell, but he's wearing Wil's shoes with his jammies, of course!)
So I broke down and shelled out $20 for the yearbook, since my son won the cover. Brad thought everyone in Michigan would love to see it and be really proud, so it will be making a tour along with us next month. For those of you that don't know, my mom had volunteered to come get me anytime I needed her to, while Brad was gone. So she is coming in a few weeks to pick up the boys, myself and our big pup. We'll be in Michigan for about a month..already praying for nice weather! (And on the off chance that there is a creepy stalker out there...the MPs will be watching our house...so don't get any ideas.) 
Getting ready for the slide... Wilson did such a good job being BIG brother today! I told him on the way that there might be a lot of people and that we kind of had to do what Walker wanted because he is younger, and if they played that Wilson had to stick with Walker (its one of those big wooden playgrounds that you can hardly walk through without hitting your head or banging your hips). He did such a good job, and only once or twice said, "Come over here WALKER!" When I would ever so gently remind him to go with his brother...
You can see on their faces how much fun they were having together!
Walker didn't want to get out of the firetruck (or the police car for that matter). Good thing the Medi-Flight Helicopter was a no show, he probably would've demanded a ride!
Here are the boys waiting for the bounce house, never one to waste a moment to get dirty, Walker quickly dug in!
Ready for jumping...
He was being silly here...
They had fun in here too, Walker was a lot more laid back than I thought he would be, I wish the camera hadn't focused on the net, but I guess you get the idea.
They had a bunch of carnival-like games too, complete with those little prizes you can never have enough of... (And a jawbreaker...but that's another story altogether.)
Again, Walker did not want to get off. I was so thankful he didn't throw a fit though, because he was so high I thought for sure he would fall.
And after naps we got busy on the garden. We have two plots between us and another family, you can see the first one is tilled(?) and the second one is just getting started.
Shannon is indeed wearing a sundress to garden! So fabulous!
And our plots all tilled and ready for planting. Well, there are a few more things we need to do before we actually plant, but we are close! 
Wilson chose some boxes to reuse for an expanded make-believe shopping experience. I know some of you may think that is kind of a girly-sort of play. But, hey, his future wife will LOVE it if he can run to the grocery store and pick out the right thing the first time (Brad is a good shopper, but I hear some guys aren't.)
And this was my dilemma a day or so ago. How does a flip-flop find itself on the bed frame??? This was a tricky task, for sure. I guess it worked out good that I missed Pilates this day because I about had to do half the moves to free this thing!
I found this book under the bed (thanks to Walker). Which I thought was interesting because...
I won this one at the retreat I went to a few weeks ago. The author of the woman's battle was our guest speaker. I had heard before that this was a "must-read" for anyone with a deployed spouse. So far so good... (by the way, Brad read his before he left)
And finally, the builder. While I was laying with Walker (in the hopes that he would fall asleep quickly for his nap), Wilson built a Grand Central Station with his legos. --Technically, I think Brad refers to these as 'duplos' -- Anyway, he used every single one in his bin. He was quite pleased...and found it much easier to build while Walker was napping!
